Hospital Told COVID-19 Patient’s Family He Was Alive After They Had Already Cremated Him

A family in Gujarat recently had to deal with poor communication and a case of mistaken identities by a hospital. On May 28, a patient came to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and was admitted to the hospital’s COVID-19 ward after showing symptoms of the virus.

The patient passed away the next day even before the laboratory delivered his results. Following the protocol, the staff covered his body in PPE and handed it back to his family. His body was then soon cremated, according to the instructions of the hospital.

The deceased’s son-in-law, Nilesh Nikte, told The Hindu that scared of being infected, the family didn’t open the cover. After they got home from the Vadaj crematorium, they received the information that their relative was actually still alive.

The morning after they cremated him, the hospital called them multiple times, saying that his test results came out negative and the patient would be moved to the general ward.

After that, the family rushed to the hospital. They found out that this was a mistake of the control room. Based on his test results, they had informed the family that the patient was still alive while he had already passed away the day before.

This isn’t the first time that residents have criticized the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for its poor management. The Gujarat High Court called the Civil a dungeon for its poor health infrastructure. The state was also directed to form a committee to look into the hospital’s conditions after almost 400 COVID-19 patients have died here.

After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi, Gujarat is the fourth state that has the highest number of infected cases.

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